Condescending Hippies

[Kinetic]

I posted about this in another thread but I need a kayak shuttle and mountain bike hauler as well as a base camp for other trips...and we're talking a smaller bus, not those 65 seat monsters. And no flowers painted on it either.

It's also going to be updated with a state of the art drivetrain so it's a lot more fuel efficient as well as easier to work on. And it appears I'll be bringing more people with me to BM next year and a Ranger 4x4 pickup hauling 4 people 3600 miles is a hell I wouldn't wish on anyone...those small jump seats just suck.

The schoolbus is just an idea, I'm open to others.
Specs: Extended Fuel Tanks for 800 to 1200 mile range if possible.
Ability to sit and sleep 4 to 8 people.
Must carry 100 gallons of water, 4x 17 ft long sea kayaks and 4 mountain bikes.
Needs A/C and generator so we can take relatives on smaller trips who have medical conditions and currently have to stay home.

That's what I'm up against. The mid size bus seems to meet the specs considering I have a brand new SB Chevy 355 ci V-8 sitting here ready to go into something. Got any other ideas? I could use some!

[supersurly]

If you think you have the right to take someones picture but they don't have the right to heckle you, then you deserve whatever shit someone slings your way..

For what it is worth Marmot, you could have said "Good day!" to some people and gotten a pretty shitty response. Not much to do about it but move on to the next experience.

Rude people are everywhere!

[JonoVision]

Y'know, I've got a petrified marmot's paw hanging from my rearview mirror -- no relation, I trust.

On Day1 I took about 5 shots of Pinky's on one of my disposable cameras, then lost the thing and didn't take another shot for the whole burn, and couldn't be happier for it. If the boys back home are disappointed by not having pics to look at, I will just point them to the website. Plenty of good stuff in the gallery.

[Bob]

Woah.

Marmot.

Dude/dudette.

Where'd you get that "playa name", you fucking hippie?

[Todd in Seattle]

a Ranger 4x4 pickup hauling 4 people 3600 miles is a hell I wouldn't wish on anyone...those small jump seats just suck.

I came alone in my Ranger 4x4 and only had to go 700+ miles. I love my truck like no other, but I seriously wonder how you were able to do 3600 miles with 4 people, and without anyone on board strangling anyone else. That, in my mind, is a major accomplishment. Any permanent spinal injuries to the backseaters?

[Kinetic]

No...nobody rode in those seats this year but next year I should have 3 people...and I'm going to have to either get another vehicle or use the jump seats. And it's going to suck for whomever sits back there. It won't be me unless I get too tired to drive and that won't be much.

And now that I traded up to the 4.0 V-6 I love my truck too...except that speed limiter kept me at 92 coming off Pequot summit on 80....that sucked.

I'm half tempted to take this new 350 SB Chevy V-8 I've got sitting here, find me an S-10 p/u or Blazer and fix that to pull my stuff next year. Nothing like 330 hp and an overdrive/underdrive box to make things interesting.

[Todd in Seattle]

I took the Ranger to Montana a few years back, when there was no speed limit. She (also a 4.0 V6) ran right up to 107 mph, but that was it.

[Kinetic]

For 2003 the onboard chip on a lot of Ford products limits you to 92 mph and also limits RPM.

I'm wanting something that can pull the vehicle + 2000 lbs extra up the 7% grade to the Eisenhower Tunnel on I-70 in Colorado at 5 to 10 mph over the posted speed limit with only one downshift. I was too fast for the trucks and too slow to get out of the way of the motorcycles and BMW's that kept climbing on my butt going up the mountain both times.

The speed issue is one reason why as much as I like the converted school bus idea, I'll likely stick with the Ranger and a hand made trailer configuration like I had this year. I seriously regret not spending the extra money on the aluminum frame for the trailer. Yet I wonder how aluminum would have held up to the punishment of Jungo Road. It's always something....

[Chai Guy]

There are people at BM who don't want to be photographed being there...a case in point would be the United States Senator who passed through this year, I also know of 2 midwestern religious leaders who attended and had a blast that if caught on film would have been doing a lot of explaining back home...or as one of them said, he would likely lose his position. So there are cases where even a simple pic can cause harm.

Then maybe the problem isn't photographs, it's with lifestyle decisions. I remember working once with a very devout religious person from another country. He spent the better part of the day talking about his god, his religion, and his strict code of conduct imposed by them. I ended up bumping into him at the bar as he was putting away a large quantity of booze, I couldn't help but remind him of his earlier statements. His reply was that "Well, my God can't see me here!"

Don't do anything you're ashamed of

[PJ]

I wonder how aluminum would have held up to the punishment of Jungo Road...

Correctly designed, it should hold up better. Lighter = less mass for the springs, etc., to absorb on every bump.

Incorrectly designed, it's no different than steel or wood or composites. That is, something has to break first, and destructive testing is the only real-world way to disclose your design and fabrication inadequacies.